"We understood that we had to respond today and put in a good performance and whether we won or not was beside the point. But we came out and won, and won well, and it's a very happy dressing room." Vettori said.

England captain Paul Collingwood pinpointed his side's problem as simply not enough runs on the board.

"Where we fell down tonight, let's be honest, was with the bat. We were struggling to find the ones and twos even," he said.

"If we got up towards 200 runs it would have been a defendable total. New Zealand bowled well and fielded exceptionally well."

New Zealand started on Saturday by keeping England openers Alastair Cook and Phil Mustard pinned down -- the first boundary from Mustard came only in the seventh over -- and the run rate seldom rose above three.

In a stunning reversal of form, New Zealand thrashed England in their opening one-day cricket international by six wickets and with 20 overs to spare at Westpac Stadium here.

The win came just days after England outplayed New Zealand in all departments in two Twenty20 matches.

Given an extra 30 overs, New Zealand lost the toss but from then on won everything in a morale-boosting performance.

England, opting to bat first, were all out for 130 in the 50th over and New Zealand knocked off the target with the loss of four wickets in 30 overs.

Bolstered by the return of captain Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram, New Zealand showed no sign of the fragility evident when they spent the two shorter matches firmly on the back foot.

Ryder survived a chance on 21 when dropped by Graeme Swann at midwicket and added another 10 runs before being caught by substitute Luke Wright off the bowling of Stuart Broad for 31.

McCullum also got a second chance, dropped by a diving Mustard when on 27 and went on to make 42, at a run a ball, before giving Broad his second wicket when Mustard made amends by taking a fine legside catch.

New Zealand were then two for 83 in the 19th over and well in control as Jamie How and Ross Taylor stepped up the pace.

How was eventually dismissed for 28, with New Zealand nine runs short of victory and it was left to Taylor, not out 24, and Peter Fulton on one to take New Zealand across the line.

The second game in the five-match series is in Hamilton on Tuesday.

SCOREBOARD

A. Cook

b Martin

11

P. Mustard

b Styris

31

I. Bell

b Martin

5

K. Pietersen

b Oram

6

P. Collingwood

run out

12

O. Shah

run out

20

R. Bopara

c Fulton b Styris

3

G. Swann

run out

7

S. Broad

not out

18

R. Sidebottom

c and b Patel

4

J. Anderson

b Patel

3

Extras

lb4, w6

10

Total

for 9 wkts

130

Fall of wkts

1-34, 2-42, 3-55, 4-67, 5-80, 6-91, 7-103, 8-104, 9-120

Bowling

Mills 9-0-27-0 (3w)

Martin 8-1-22-2

Oram 8-0-20-1

Styris 10-1-22-2 (1w)

Vettori 8-1-21-0

Patel 6.4-0-14-2 (1w)

New Zealand:

J. Ryder

c sub (Wright) b Broad

31

B. McCullum

c Mustard b Broad

42

J. How

c Mustard b Sidebottom

28

R. Taylor

not out

24

S. Styris

c Sidebottom b Broad

0

P. Fulton

not out

1

Extras

b2, lb2, w1

5

Total

for 4 wkts

131

Fall of wkts

1-61, 2-83, 3-122, 4-127

Bowling

Sidebottom 9-1-34-1 (1w)

Anderson 5-0-35-0

Broad 9-2-26-3

Swann 3-0-17-0

Collingwood 4-0-15-0

Result

New Zealand win by seven wickets

While the England batsmen played as if the slow pitch held demons, Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum played three overs with caution and then launched into the run chase.

A six from Ryder and a four from McCullum lifted New Zealand to 18 without loss and they never dropped below four runs an over after that.

By the 12th over Ryder and McCullum had taken New Zealand passed 50 and hit seven boundaries, as many as England scored in their entire innings.

"Whenever you chase a small total if you can get your 50 pretty quickly you take away all the elements of worrying about chasing it down," Vettori said.

"I think they did a really good job and it sets us up for the rest of the series."